NBA: Celtics' Avery Bradley may be driving up price with his production

Can Avery Bradley help the Celtics become title contenders again or should the Celtics let him go when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer?

That's one of the many questions that Danny Ainge will have to answer as he tries to rebuild the Celtics.

Meanwhile, Bradley is doing his best to drive up his asking price for a new contract.

The 23-year-old guard has always been known for his defense, but he's averaging a career-high 13.9 points, well above his previous career high of 9.2 points from last season, and he's shooting 40.7 percent from threeland, tops on the team among the regulars.

Despite a 2-for-10, eight-point performance on the final day of December, Bradley averaged a team-high 15.6 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 48.7 percent, including 50 percent from threeland, for the month. He improved in each category from November when he averaged 13.4 points and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 44 percent, including 30 percent from behind the arc. On Friday, he scored a team-high 22 points against New Orleans.

"I just think it's the confidence," Bradley said, "and the repetition of getting shots up every single day and believing that every shot is going to go in. Even if I miss a few, the next one is going in. That's my mindset every single game."

Bradley started at the point while the Celtics lost their first four games, but he has flourished since moving to shooting guard. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Bradley may have the size of a point guard, but he lacks the skills. Running the floor is one of his strengths, but running an offense isn't.

Prior to the season, Ainge did not sign Bradley to a contract extension. If the Celtics make him a $3.2 million, one-year qualifying offer by June 30, he can accept it and become an unrestricted free agent the following year. If he doesn't accept a qualifying offer, he'll become a restricted free agent, giving the Celtics the option to match an offer from any other team. If the Celtics don't make him a qualifying offer, he'll become an unrestricted free agent.

It's unlikely that Bradley will accept a qualifying offer because NBA executives told Sports Illustrated that they expect Bradley will be able to attract a four-year offer for $30 million next summer.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens hopes Bradley stays in Boston. Asked if he considered Bradley to be a building block for the future, Stevens replied, "Yeah, he's a guy that I think could certainly have a long, long career, and I enjoy coaching him. I love having him around."

Stevens appreciates Bradley's willingness to be coached and eagerness to improve.

"Sometimes," Stevens said, "guys that are that highly thought of don't embrace that improvement the way he has."

Bradley has obviously benefitted from having a full training camp for the first time in his four NBA seasons. He underwent ankle surgery after the Celtics took him with the 19th pick of the 2010 draft, forcing him to miss much of camp his rookie season. The following year, the lockout shortened camps. Last season, he missed the entire preseason after undergoing surgery on both shoulders and didn't make his season debut until Jan. 2, 2013.

Stevens believes having the summer to work on his game, unlike the previous years, was equally as important as training camp for Bradley. Shortly before camp opened, Bradley rode an emotional roller coaster. His mother died, and a week later his son was born.

"Sometimes we forget that these guys are humans first," Stevens said. "So even with his improvement over the last couple of months, I think it's even more remarkable because of what he went through emotionally."

Missing four of their top five scorers from a year ago, the Celtics needed others to produce. So far, Bradley has attempted and made the most shots on the team. In addition, he has already made 37 3-pointers after sinking only 40 all of last season.

"My teammates started looking for me to score a little bit more," Bradley said. "I took that challenge. Every single day in the gym, I wanted to get better and earn their trust to take that shot.''

Bradley is still young. He turned 23 on Nov. 26. If he had remained in college for four years, he'd be a rookie this season.

"He's really been good," Stevens said. "It doesn't mean he's going to be perfect, or has been perfect, but he's competitive, and I think he can get better, a lot better."

Stevens said Bradley's improving play has not surprised him.

"I came in here," Stevens said, "knowing that he was a guy that they thought highly of, and I got a chance to meet him on my introductory press conference day, and I really appreciated him stopping by, and I could tell he was a good person by the way that he interacted with our family and everything else. So it never surprises me when guys with that kind of ability and that kind of people (skills) improve at a good rate. He's been easy to coach, he's taken coaching, and I think he'll just continue to get better."

Bradley, always a tenacious on-the-ball defender, believes he's improved mostly as a team defender not as a scorer and that should come as no surprise from someone who always thinks of defense first.

"It starts on the defensive end for me,'' Bradley said. "That gives me energy on the offensive end. Most players, it's the other way around.

"When I get a stop, it gives me that energy on the offensive end. I am a defensive player first. That's my mindset — stop, stop stop.''

Need more from Green

Jeff Green showed some signs of shaking off his slump by scoring 16 points against New Orleans on Friday, but the Celtics need their leading scorer to be more assertive when they begin a five-game road trip tonight against his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Over his last nine games, Green has averaged only 11.9 points and shot just 37.1 percent, including 32.2 percent from threeland. Over his previous 12 games, Green averaged 20 points and shot 48.6 percent, including 46.9 percent from beyond the arc. For the season, he's averaging 15.8 points and shot 43.7 percent, including 37.9 percent from deep.

"I think the biggest thing for him always," Stevens said, "is getting in transition and getting himself going to the rim. We'll continue to try to help put him in a position to do that."

Too often, Green stands behind the 3-point line waiting for Jordan Crawford to stop dribbling and pass him the ball. Crawford has not spread the ball around as well while the Celtics have lost six of their last seven as he did earlier in the season. Green needs to have the ball more in order for the Celtics to score more. They rank 26th in the NBA in scoring (94.6 ppg) and 25th in both field goal attempts (81.2) and free-throw attempts (20.6). If Green takes the ball to the basket more, he'll draw more fouls.

"He's in a new role," Stevens said, "from a standpoint where he's one of the go-to guys if not the go-to guy on a lot of nights. With that comes a lot more attention from opponents, so he'll just continue to learn and grow."

Time for 10-day deals

NBA teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts on Monday. None of the three players whom the Celtics signed to 10-day contracts out of China last season remain in the league.

Big men Shavlik Randolph and D.J. White returned to play in China, and Terrence Williams was acquired by the L.A. D-Fenders of the NBA Development League on Dec. 30.

Randolph, a 6-foot-10 center, averaged 4.2 points and 4.4 rebounds in 16 games for the Celtics last season, but they waived him last summer, a day before his 2013-14 contract would have become guaranteed for $1.1 million. So he signed to return to play for the Fushan Long Lions for $1.5 million this season.

White, a 6-9 forward, spent training camp with Chicago, but was waived on Oct. 26 and signed with the Sichuan Blue Whales in late November. He averaged 2.4 points and 1.1 rebounds in 12 games for the Celtics last season.

Williams, a 6-6 guard, signed to play in Turkey but left after only two games in mid-November. He averaged 4.6 points and 1.6 assists in 24 games for Boston.

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